Bikers v. Germs
/South Dakota has a lot to recommend it. The Badlands are must-see topography, especially at sunset. Mount Rushmore is literally and figuratively a monumental work of art. And it’s one of the five least-populous states, which some people think is an attraction all by itself.
Ah, but countering and corrupting all that goodness is the one, long summer week every year when the little town of Sturgis (pop. 6,627) is invaded by a species of sub-humans riding motorcycles. Long hair, tattoo art and unrepressed id are on constant display. And these folks make no secret of where their political sympathies lie:
This year more than 365,000 visited, and in truth, they behaved pretty well—only 50 cycle crashes (five fatalities) and they kept the drug arrests just under 250. Not bad.
And while I may call them subhuman, they look at themselves as superhuman. Other than the 50 crashes, they are virtually indestructible. Especially in the face of some stupid Corvid germs. You would have had a hard time finding a face mask among them…and they practiced the kind of social distancing you’d exercise in a phone booth. These folks laugh in the face of weakness.
Well, I know you’re never going to believe this. But in the weeks following the end of the rally, the two states in America registering by far the biggest leaps in new coronavirus cases were North and South Dakota. Shocking, I know! A study by the University of Colorado estimated that a total of 267,000 new cases of Covid-19 had already occurred for people at the rally…or for the lucky families and friends they visited when they rode back home.
That was just under 20% of all new cases in America in the time period. They’re number one!
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Do I think those yahoos “learned a lesson”? That they’re not superhuman after all? That pandemics apply to them, too? Of course not. That would require them admitting they were wrong.
Thus, do I feel sorry for the suffering…and the deaths that followed?
Nope. Not one little bit. Not for a single one of them.
Sociologists may describe their group obstinance as herd behavior. Maybe the bikers were aiming for herd immunity.
But for my money, this was pure Darwinism—just thinning the herd.
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